I’m not sure what a Falcon-Cap story (in the large sense) would be. Bucky’s is redemption and living up to what Cap saw in him. Especially since I can’t see Disney exploring what it would mean for a black man to be Captain America in any real way.

And to be honest, I can see Anthony Mackie carry a movie far, far better than Sebastian Stan.

I agree. It may not be entirely Stan’s fault but Bucky to me has been a plot device in the MCU rather than a compelling character at all. You’ve got characters in there that are stoic or funny or pompous or dashing or whatever but Bucky is kind of just there. To me it’s the key area where Civil War doesn’t quite work because you aren’t given an emotional reason to back Cap in defending Bucky.

Mackie has had quite a bit part really but he does seem to have enough charisma to appeal as a lead.

To me it’s the key area where Civil War doesn’t quite work because you aren’t given an emotional reason to back Cap in defending Bucky.

That was the first clear sign that Marvel (and the Russos) were willing to do films where, like IW, you had to have emotional attachments already in your head going in. In the Winter Soldier there’s a scene set just after Steve’s mother’s funeral in which Bucky basically says he has Steve’s back no matter what and has a throwaway line about them growing up so close Bucky’s family was Steve’s too. The character of Steve Rogers isn’t one that forgets something like that easily and pretty much gives Steve all the motivation needed, it just happens to be in another movie.

That was the first clear sign that Marvel (and the Russos) were willing to do films where, like IW, you had to have emotional attachments already in your head going in.

Yes. Civil War worked for me because of that - it built on character development and relationships that had been set up and fleshed out in detail in other films, so it could get away with a bit of shorthand to establish those elements without having to do all the work of building them up.

Infinity War didn’t work so well for me because it didn’t even seem interested in providing that shorthand, it just chucked you straight into the action.

I think there’s an extent to which these films should be able to stand alone as well as working as part of the larger MCU whole, and Civil War and Infinity War fall just on either side of that line for me.

I can understand that, and one of the reasons is actually TV. I hate season end cliffhangers to the main plot, not because of the cliffhanger, but because you have to be already submerged in the story going into the next season. I much prefer a season to have a clear start middle and end, even if it’s an open ended story and events tease what’s coming next.

I think so many people are immersed in the MCU now though that they are flat out watching relevant movies back to back before they walk into the cinema. My brother in law, the complete opposite of a nerd, has watched every Marvel film about ten times. My sister says his viewing of AOU is about to hit triple figures. What if Whedon was right?!

Yes, it’s certainly blurring the lines a little further between serial storytelling and standalone movies, just because of the sheer scale of the MCU now.

Really a lot of this is just about our expectations of how stories are told in different media. In an ongoing comic or TV show I don’t want each single episode to waste loads of time setting up all the key elements of its story every time - I know about them as I watched the previous episode or read the previous issue!

In movies it’s the opposite: there is still more of that expectation of a self-contained story. But the MCU is training its audience not to necessarily expect that in future, and to be aware of story elements already established in previous films.

I think this is fair. Ideally it’s something I think could be explored in a Bucky-as-Cap film as he goes from existing largely in the shadows to being this very public icon (which is something they haven’t done much with in the previous Cap films).

I would absolutely be down for a Falcon movie. I think, for me, it’s just that I don’t see him as Cap in a Marvel/Disney film is additive in the same way it was in the comics.